


Compliments

by ProdigyBlood



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluffy Ending, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 20:07:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13725054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProdigyBlood/pseuds/ProdigyBlood
Summary: Set after SPX Resurrection. Skulduggery tries to cheer Valkyrie up.





	Compliments

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a couple of months ago after finishing SPX and posted it on to Fanfiction.net. Seeing as I have this account, too, I thought I might as well share it here as well :) It is set directly after the events of SPX

“You’re scary when you’re evil,” she said, breaking the not-quite-comfortable silence between them. Skulduggery tilted his head, looking at Valkyrie with what she knew to be a curious ‘expression’. 

“Am I not scary all of the time?”

“Only to the bad guys.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Please never be corrupted again.”

“I’ll do my best.”

There was silence again. Previously, silences like these had been fine but now… well, now everything had changed. Now, the silence scared her. She didn’t like it one bit. After everything that had just happened, after everything that had been said and done, the silence could do one. Not that the conversation they were having was much better, but at least it was slightly better. 

“I thought I’d lost you,” she confessed quietly. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Instead she stared at her knees, drawn up on the sofa and pressed against her chest. She was embarrassed to be admitting this stuff. It seemed soppy. Valkyrie did not like being soppy. It was unbecoming of her. 

“You’ll never lose me.” She started to smile at her knees but it faltered as he continued. “Unless, of course, I really do turn evil and kill you. Or, y‘know, I could die, or – ”

“Stop it,” she said. Skulduggery stopped speaking instantly. It was rare that he listened when she requested as such, so the pain in her voice must have been abundantly obvious. 

“I was rather evil, wasn’t I?” he said. “I shot you in the leg.”

“Yeah, that hurt.”

“I can imagine. Sorry about that.” 

“You weren’t yourself.”

“No,” he agreed. “Well, mostly not. I was me but I was evil me. I’ll try not to be evil me around you again.”

“Much appreciated.” She was tired. She sounded tired, her words quiet and slurred. She could almost sleep except she was certain that tonight the nightmares would be worse than usual. Tonight, she was sure, they would feature an evil Skulduggery. She wasn’t sure she could face that. 

“You look tired.”

“I’m not,” she lied.

Skulduggery tilted his head again. “Are the nightmares that bad?” He could read her like a book. He was an excellent detective after all. Valkyrie wouldn’t want him to be any less. 

“Usually, yeah.” 

“Then I guess we’ll just have to keep you awake.”

“I guess so.”

“We could take Xena for a walk?”

“Pass.” She was definitely too tired for that, no matter how much good the fresh air might do her. 

“Then – ”

“-Sit with me,” she interrupted, tapping the empty space on the sofa beside her. Skulduggery obliged. He was being nice, she knew, to make up for nearly killing her. She didn’t mind what his reasons were as long as he kept at it. 

Once Skulduggery was comfortable, she leaned her head on his shoulder. She felt him tense ever so slightly. 

“Now what?”

“Now we sit.”

“Just sit? Isn’t that boring?”

“It doesn’t have to be. We could watch TV if you want?” 

The TV was put on but neither of them watched it. Valkyrie kept her head against Skulduggery, not caring that he was more bony than comfortable. He may be no cushion but he provided comfort like she had never known simply by being close. 

The silence wasn’t uncomfortable now and, eventually, Valkyrie found her eyes becoming too heavy to keep open. She let them droop. With Skulduggery beside her, perhaps she could finally sleep. Perhaps she wouldn’t even get any nightmares. 

When Skulduggery started humming, gentle and lulling, she could fight no longer. She was vaguely aware that he had taken her hand in his and was drawing circles in her flesh but she was too tired to respond, too tired to even open her eyes. 

She slept then and, for the first time in what felt like forever, it was a peaceful slumber, free from monsters of all kinds. 

She woke some time later when a bony finger brushed a strand of hair from her closed eyes. She smiled lightly. 

“You’re awake.”

“I am.”

“No nightmares?”

“No dreams at all. How long was I out?”

“Four hours.”

“Four?” She sat up straight. It was dark outside. It hadn’t been dark earlier. “Have you been sitting here this entire time?”

“I didn’t want to wake you.” She turned her attention to the TV. It showed a studio where a red faced man and woman were loudly arguing in front of a live audience.

“Didn’t take you for a Jeremy Kyle fan,” she teased. 

“If I had a brain, I think it would have lost most of it’s cells by now.”

“Lucky you don’t have one then,” she said. “Can’t have my favourite detective turning dumb on me.”

“That would certainly be a conundrum,” he agreed. “How would you cope?”

“Without you? I couldn’t.”

“I know. I am that amazing.”

“You are.” 

“Did I bump your head?”

“Huh?”

“You’re being complimentary. You’re never complementary.”

“Am so.”

“Only when you’re talking about yourself.”

“You’re thinking of you.”

“Maybe so. Does that mean I owe you a complement now?”

“If you want.”

Skulduggery reached for the remote and turned off the TV. Valkyrie cursed her traitorous heart as it sped up. Skulduggery didn’t speak for a while. Valkyrie sat in silence, holding her sweaty palms to her side and wondering what was going on. Skulduggery was being too quiet, it was almost like he was making some kind of important decision. Valkyrie was both excited and terrified at the same time. 

“You’re a wonderful partner,” he said finally.

“That’s it?” What a let down. She slumped slightly. 

“You want more?” He cocked his head. 

“You nearly killed me. More would be nice.”

“Very well. I’m pretty spectacular-”

“-Skulduggery, this is meant to be about me.”

“Patience young one.” He touched her lips with his ungloved finger and she blushed. She didn’t fail to notice Skulduggery’s ‘smirk’. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I am pretty spectacular. I don’t often need help but, sometimes, unbelievable though it may be, I find myself in that remarkable situation where I do and, I know that you will never let me down. I can, and have, trusted you with my life. You give me a run for my money with your talent, wit, charm and incredibly gorgeous looks.” She smiled at that, a blush creeping across her pale skin. Skulduggery thought she was gorgeous? Then again, the way he worded it suggested he thought he was gorgeous, too. Talk about blowing your own trumpet. As far as skeletons went, though, Valkyrie had to say he actually was. 

“That’s made me feel better, thank you.”

“I’m not done.”

“You’re not?”

“No, I’m not.” He made a noise as if to clear the throat he didn’t have and then continued. “I’d be nothing without you,” he said, reaching out to touch her cheek. Her eyes automatically fluttered shut at the contact. “Valkyrie Cain, you make me a better man.” He paused, as if steeling himself for what he was about to say next. “When I said I loved you, I didn’t mean it platonically or in the heat of the moment. I said it because it’s true. I am in love with you.” 

Her eyes opened at that, wide and uncertain. She searched his skull for the truth and, when she found it, she smiled. 

“I’m in love with you, too.”

“I know. I’d be amazed if you weren’t. Nobody can resist my charms and devilishly good looks.”

“I think I love you a little less now,” she said, reaching to playfully slap his arm. Skulduggery caught her wrist and pulled her closer. 

“That so?” he asked in that irresistible voice of his. 

“Uh huh,” Valkyrie managed to say, unconvincing to even her own ears. 

“Well, that certainly won’t do,” he murmured. “Maybe I can fix that?” He reached up, activating his façade. Valkyrie barely had time to appraise the handsome face with excellent cheekbones and emerald green eyes before his lips, soft and warm and ever-so-real for lips that belonged on a face that wasn’t technically real, brushed against hers. 

She stopped thinking then. She closed her eyes and surrendered to the kiss. It was a good kiss. With Skulduggery, she had expected no less. One of these days she really had to find something that he wasn’t good at. 

It was sure to be difficult but Valkyrie liked a challenge. And now that she was back, a challenge was just what she needed. 

But that could wait. First, more kissing was definitely in order. Besides, she had realised she had started thinking again and that certainly wouldn’t do. She shifted her weight and grabbed his tie, pulling the skeleton detective – her partner, her friend, her lover – closer. 

From the noise he made as he tumbled down on top of her, his knees straddling her, their lips barely parting, he certainly wasn’t going to argue.


End file.
